Free The Duff: Designated Ugly Fat Friend by Kody Keplinger Page A

go.
    The winter sky had already turned black, but I could still see Wesley’s gray eyes in the darkness. They were exactly the color
     of the sky before a thunderstorm. He crouched down by my door to get to my eye level, and the way he was looking at me made
     me really uncomfortable. “You didn’t answer the other question.”
    “What other question?”
    “Are you all right?”
    I scowled at him for a long moment, assuming he was just trying to be a pain in my ass. But something about his lighted eyes
     made me hesitate. “It doesn’t matter if I am or not,” I whispered. I started my car, and he darted out of the way when I moved
     to slam the door shut. “Bye, Wesley.”
    And I drove away.
    When I got home, Dad was still in his bedroom. I finishedcleaning up the living room, avoiding the kitchen altogether, and ran upstairs to take a shower. The hot water didn’t wash
     away the dirty feeling Wesley had left on my skin, but it did relax some muscles that were forming tense knots in my back
     and shoulders. I just hoped the dirt would wash away in time.
    I’d barely wrapped a towel around me when my cell phone started ringing in my bedroom, and I sprinted across the hall to answer
     it in time.
    “Hey, B,” Casey said into my ear. “So are you and Wesley done?”
    “What?”
    “You two were working on the English project today, weren’t you?” she asked. “I thought he was meeting you at your place.”
    “Oh,… right. Well, I wound up going over to his house instead.” I was trying hard not to sound guilty.
    “OMG, you mean the mansion?” Casey asked. “Lucky! Did you walk out onto one of the balconies? Vikki said that’s half the reason
     she wants to hook up with him again. Last time, it was just in the backseat of his Porsche, but she really wants to see the
     inside of that house.”
    “Is there a point to this conversation, Casey?”
    “Oh, yeah,” she laughed. “Sorry. It’s no big deal. I just wanted to make sure you were all right.”
    What was with everyone asking me that tonight?
    “I know you hate him,” she continued. “I wanted to make sure you were fine… and that he was okay, too. You didn’t, like, stab
     the boy, did you? I mean, I totally disapprove of murderinghotties, but if you need help burying the body, you know I’ll bring the shovel.”
    “Thanks, Casey,” I said. “But he’s alive. Today wasn’t as bad as I expected. Actually,…” I almost told her everything. How
     Mom and Dad were getting a divorce and how, in a moment of desperation, I’d kissed Wesley Rush,
again
. How that kiss had turned into something much, much more. How my body felt dirty all over, yet at the same time amazingly
     free. The words lingered on the tip of my tongue, but I couldn’t make them come out.
    Not yet, at least.
    “
Actually
what, B?” she asked, bringing me out of my thoughts.
    “Um,… nothing. He actually had some good ideas for the paper. That’s it. I guess he’s, like, a Hawthorne freak or something.”
    “Well, that’s good. I know you find smart boys sexy. Are you gonna admit you want him now?”
    I froze, not knowing how to respond to this, but Casey was laughing already.
    “I’m teasing, but I’m glad things turned out okay. I was a little worried about you today. I just had this feeling that something
     bad was going to happen. I guess I was just being paranoid.”
    “Probably.”
    “I’ve got to go. Jessica wants me to call her with all the details of my meeting with Harrison. She just doesn’t get it, does
     she? Anyway, I’ll see you at school on Monday.”
    “Okay. Bye, Casey.”
    “See you later, B.”
    I flipped the cell phone shut and placed it on my nightstand,feeling like a total liar. Technically, I hadn’t lied; I’d only withheld, but still… withholding from Casey was, like, a mortal
     sin. Especially when she made such a point of opening herself to my problems.
    But I’d tell her eventually. Well, about my parents, at least. I